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As Washington Shivers …

Posted on December 19, 2009 in Language, Public Outreach, Washington DC

Snowmap Anyone interested the transit effects of weather will appreciate this press release from WMATA in Washington DC, announcing the suspension of all above-ground transit services in the current snowstorm.

Metrorail trains will stop serving above-ground stations at 1 p.m.
today, Saturday, December 19, due to heavy snowfall that is covering
the electrified third rail, which is situated eight inches above the
ground. The third rail must be clear of snow and ice because it is the
source of electricity that powers the trains. Metro officials believe
that by 1 p.m. the exposed third rail will be covered by snow. All
Metrobus and MetroAccess service also will stop at 1 p.m. because
roadways are quickly becoming impassable.

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Integrating Transit and Land Use: A Cautionary Tale

Posted on November 7, 2009 in Be on the Way, Washington DC

The Transport Politic tells the story of a new rapid transit corridor study in suburban Maryland, extending west from DC Metro’s Red Line terminus at Shady Grove.  Don’t worry if you don’t know the geography.  Think of this, instead, as a Rohrshach test.  There’s a yellow option and a blue option, and the squiggly blue option has an additional optional squiggle in green.  Which one would you rather ride?

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Mundane Things That Really Matter: Defining “On Time”

Posted on June 20, 2009 in On-Time Performance, Washington DC

DSCN2078

A great piece by Michael Perkins in Greater Greater Washington highlights a perennial problem with on-time performance measures for urban buses.  He cites the policy of the Washington area transit agency, WMATA, which says that a bus is considered on-time if it’s no more than two minutes early and no more than seven minutes late.  Perkins explains, with diagrams, that under this policy you could wait 19 minutes for a bus that supposedly ran every ten minutes, and yet the bus (and the one 19 minutes in front of it) would both be considered on-time.

(By the way, the WMATA standard sounds lax to me, though I haven’t done a survey.   Few agencies I’ve worked with accept anything more than five minutes late, or one minute early.)

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